\n(assuming I get a vote)<\/em>
\nI want to come back boneless
\nAn octopus, or a jellyfish
\nLithe, clever – yes, clever! –
\nI already know what it means
\nTo be underestimated,
\nDismissed, thought brainless.
\nI want to come back salt-slick
\nSliding, gliding, buoyant,
\nWeightless. Un-cage-able.
\nI’d stare a human in the eye
\nGrasp a wrist, kiss its salt-sweat skin
\nWith tentacled arms, then slip through
\nThe deep blue
\nBefore heaving a sob
\nFor all they lost when they grew legs
\nAnd crawled upon the shore.<\/p>\n
Author’s Note<\/h2>\n
I created today’s featured image using Midjourney. The prompt was “an ossuary that looks like an octopus.” The next morning, just out of idle curiosity, I searched Bing – all I typed was, “Do octopus” and the first thing the AI autocomplete suggested was, “…have bones” I screencapped it for proof:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screenshot-2023-04-07-092915-300x185.png\")
<\/p>\n
The answer, of course, is no<\/em> – but how freaky is it that autocomplete suggests that as the first search right after I prompted Midjourney with “octopus” and “ossuary”? Do people really have to ask that? What octopuses do<\/strong> have is a “beak” made of the same material as the exoskeleton of a crab, and it’s pretty powerful. Undigestible. They know this because they’ve found them in the bellies of whales. So an octopus ossuary would, in fact, just be a pile of shell fragments that once served as the octopus’s jaw. According to Animal Hype<\/a>, this beak is as sharp as a Swiss Army Knife. Don’t stick your fingers near an octopus’s mouth.<\/p>\n Mary Oliver<\/strong> – America’s best selling poet. Read more here<\/a> and watch her talk about poetry and read her poems:<\/p>\n Mary Oliver \u2014 Listening to the World – YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n ‘A Thousand Mornings’ With Poet Mary Oliver – YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n Wilfred Owen<\/strong> – one of the leading poets of World War I. An interesting movie, streaming on Netflix, is Benediction (film) – Wikipedia<\/a>. It is biographical in nature, exploring the life of Siegfried Sassoon<\/a>. It was Sassoon who encouraged Owen in his ambition to write better poetry. A manuscript copy of Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth<\/a><\/i>\u00a0containing Sassoon’s handwritten amendments survives as testimony to the extent of his influence and is currently on display at London’s\u00a0Imperial War Museum<\/a>. Read more about Wilfred Owen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arms and the Boy by Wilfred Owen | Poetry Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen | Poetry Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n April is National Poetry Month<\/a>. This year marks its 27th year. NaPoWriMo<\/a> – 30 days of writing poems – is poets’ answer to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).<\/p>\n This coincides with the A to Z Blogging Challenge<\/a>, now celebrating its 13th anniversary. Some participants choose a theme; others wing it. Doesn’t matter! The real challenge is to build a practice of writing daily. I think I stuck with it…once.\u00a0You can see the list of participants<\/a> – I’m sure they’d love it if you’d visit and comment on their blogs.<\/p>\n This month, my goal is to:<\/p>\nToday’s Poets<\/h2>\n
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